McGill unions say university is threatening free speech over pro-Palestinian support

People walk through McGill University's campus in Montreal on Wednesday, August 6, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov)

Four unions at McGill University say the school is attacking free speech by trying to cut off funding for a student organization because of its support for a pro-Palestinian group.

They say the Montreal university is using intimidation and threats to limit pro-Palestinian organizing on campus.

“There’s a concern that McGill is being very heavy-handed in their approach,” said Dallas Jokic, co-president of McGill’s teaching assistant union. “Our issue here is with McGill cracking down on instances of speech and organizing that they don’t like and using the power that they have to suppress them.”

In January, McGill sent a notice of default to the Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG), a student-run organization focused on social and environmental justice. The letter demanded that the group stop providing support and resources to Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance, known as SPHR.

The pro-Palestinian organization was one of the groups that started a months-long encampment on the university’s downtown campus last year. It is listed as one of QPIRG’s working groups, meaning it receives financial support from the organization and has access to its resources, including computers and meeting space.

SPHR has “promoted intimidation, harassment, and protest activities that have resulted in vandalism and violence on our campus,” wrote Angela Campbell, McGill’s interim deputy provost of student life and learning, in the January letter. “SPHR has demonstrated itself as unable to distinguish between legitimate political advocacy that respects the rule of law and acts that breach the law and institutional policies.”

The university moved to end its memorandum of agreement with QPIRG in May, which would cut off the vast majority of the group’s funding, said Ivory Tong, the organization’s administration and finance coordinator. She said the two sides are now entering arbitration.

In an open letter published Friday, the four unions said QPIRG is a small organization with limited means to defend itself. “Any conduct that intimidates and threatens to dismantle a vibrant, positive, student-centred campus organization is unwarranted,” they said.

The unions represent more than 7,000 workers at McGill, including support staff, research employees, teaching assistants and professors in the arts faculty. The administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jokic said the university’s approach to QPIRG fits into a “broader pattern of McGill being quite aggressive in trying to crack down on pro-Palestine speech on campus.”

Campbell sent a similar letter to McGill’s undergraduate student union last summer, saying it had breached its memorandum of agreement with the university by failing to sever ties with SPHR.

This spring, McGill announced it was moving to end its contractual relationship with the student union. That decision followed a three-day student strike over McGill’s investments in companies linked to military action in Gaza, which led to dozens of classes being blocked or interrupted.

The student union had hosted a general assembly during which students voted in favour of a motion to strike, which had been promoted by SPHR. The university said the union “at least tacitly” supported the strike.

In correspondence with the student union last year, McGill listed a number of what it called “offensive tactics” by SPHR, including its support for an occupation of the university’s administration building in June 2024.

The pro-Palestinian group also used photos of armed fighters to promote a “youth summer program” last year.

McGill obtained temporary injunctions against the group last October and this April forbidding protests that would block access to buildings on campus.

Tong said SPHR’s protests have been “perhaps disruptive, but ultimately peaceful,” and that McGill has accused the group of harassment without providing concrete examples.

“We’re really concerned that it’s a matter of political expression, and that McGill is taking sides on this issue,” she said. “Obviously, SPHR’s protests have been disruptive, but the reason why they’ve been disruptive is because they feel their concerns about the university’s investments have not been listened to.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2025.

By Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press